Historically the world's space exploration attempts have focused exclusively on terrestrial missions. And until recently, the search for life on other planets was reserved for rovers with wheels. But now, following much speculation that life could exist in harsher climates and subsurface oceans, scientists are looking to send a boat to Titan.
Titan is Saturn's largest moon and is home to dozens of liquid methane lakes. And on September 27th 2012 at the European Planetary Science Congress in Madrid, a group of European scientists proposed sending the Titan Lake In-situ Sampling Propelled Explorer (TALISE) to the largest of these lakes - Ligeia Mare - to study its possible habitability. With temperatures as low as -178C, scientists believe that Titan is simply not suitable for life; yet others argue that the thick Earth-like atmosphere of Titan could provide enough insulation for a giant subsurface ocean.
Learn more about Titan
While the 2005 Huygens probe landed on Titan and provided 90 minutes worth of data, the TALISE space boat is expected to carry out research for 6 months. The boat's propulsion method is still being reviewed with the three main methods seen below, and scientists are also looking at the use of tank wheels, air propellers, liquid propellers and a hovercraft design.
TALISE is currently in its early conceptual stages and its feasibility is not yet known.
Credit: discover-ghosts.blogspot.com
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PICTURES GALLERY OF NASA PICTURES CASSININASA - CASSINI MULTIMEDIA NASA.gov brings you images, videos and interactive features from the unique perspective of America's space agency. Get the latest updates on NASA missions CASSINI SOLSTICE MISSION: IMAGES - NASA - HOME Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch CASSINI SOLSTICE MISSION: IMAGES - NASA - HOME Outreach Manager: Alice Wessen Editor: Kirk Munsell Science Writer: Enrico Piazza Webmaster: Allan Yu JPL Clearance: CL02-2452 IMAGES TAKEN BY THE CASSINI MISSION - PHOTOJOURNAL: NASA'S IMAGE 1-100 : 101-200 : 201-300 : 301-400 : 401-500 : 501-600 : 601-700 : 701-800 : 801-900 : 901-1000 CASSINI-HUYGENS NASA homepage for the Cassini mission and Huygens Titan probe. Detailed information, multimedia, teachers and kids sections, and status updates. Includes information CASSINI IMAGES - WELCOME TO THE NSSDC! Author/Curator: Dr. David R. Williams, dave.williams@nasa.gov NSSDC, Mail Code 690.1 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD 20771 +1-301-286-1258 NASA - CASSINI NASA.gov brings you images, videos and interactive features from the unique perspective of America's space agency. Get the latest updates on NASA missions CASSINI SOLSTICE MISSION: RAW IMAGES - NASA - HOME Welcome to the Cassini raw image section, where NASA and the Cassini mission are happy to provide these raw images for the public to use and enjoy. NASA'S CASSINI ORBITER SNAPS UNBELIEVABLE PICTURE OF SATURN Science fiction movies have spoiled us on high definition views of our planetary neighbors, but real-life photographs with equal jaw-dropping potential are NASA - CASSINI SPACECRAFT CAPTURES IMAGES AND SOUNDS OF BIG SATURN PASADENA, Calif. - Scientists analyzing data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft now have the first-ever, up-close details of a Saturn storm that is eight
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